Qatar Airways is doubling its service out of Manchester with the addition of a second daily flight to Doha from 1 June.

The airline said the second flight would allow greater choice for passengers connecting onto a of flights across the Middle East, Africa, South Asia, Far East and Australia via the airline's main hub, Doha.

Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Airways' chief executive, said the Manchester route had been performing exceptionally well, prompting the decision to increase capacity. "Manchester has long proved to be one of our successful routes so it was only a matter of time before we could deploy additional capacity into this market."

Qatar hopes to attract the large ethnic population from South Asia living in and around Manchester to take flights from Doha to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Andrew Harrison, managing director of Manchester Airport, said: "The long haul network at Manchester continues to get stronger and Qatar's commitment to Manchester by going double daily underlines the strength of the market in northern England. Our leisure and business passengers want the frequency that is being provided by airlines like Qatar Airways and we know it'll prove popular in the years ahead. Their commitment to the highest quality of service will be fully welcomed at Manchester."

Qatar Airways will continue to operate a two-class wide-body Airbus A330 aircraft on the double daily Manchester flights with up to 30 seats in a 2-2-2 configuration in Business Class and up to 275 seating capacity in a 2-4-2 Economy cabin layout.